Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! I had started it awhile ago but then there were finals and family things and just one thing after another and I finally just finished this chapter. Since it's summer I'm hoping I'll get to write more and the chapters will be coming much faster. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to vote and review!!!
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Charles POV~
I looked over at Kael as we prepared the rope to go down into the hole that Jess had fallen into five years ago. Kael didn't look back and just continued with the rope. Jess disappearing had really affected him and I know he didn't want to really do this but he had told me that he wouldn't let me go on "this stupid goose chase" alone. I know he still had a bit of hope that she was alive but he had been trying to convince himself since her funeral that she was gone. I knew she was alive though. I don't know how I just did, and I had been trying to get a search crew to explore the caves ever since. When she first went missing we called Search and Rescue and they had done a search but I always felt they didn't go deep enough into the caves.
So here we were with our own equipment and getting ready to do our own search. I know it had been a long time since she went missing but I still had hope and I could see the small glint of hope in his eyes. He had still been waiting for her to walk through the door any day now, and finally I convinced him to do our own search.
"I'll go down first." I said before grabbing the rope and slipping inside. When I finally got to the bottom I turned on the light on my helmet and looked around before tugging on the rope to let the others know it was okay. Shelly came down first followed by Erik and Isaac before Kael finally came slipping down. They all turned on their lights and looked around before pulling out their guns.
"You sure about this Charles?" Shelly asked as I looked around and found three ways they could have gone.
"Yeah. I've been doing research a lot. Sex slave traders have been working underground a lot like this lately. I know whatever got Jess had to be human from the way she was talking to them. And we would have heard if it was some animal." I said as he started leading the way down the path in front of us.
"Don't you think she would have been sold by now?" Erik asked as Kael got an angry and sad look.
"Yeah. But if we at least find where they went maybe we can find someone that we can get her location from." I said, already having gone over this scenario in my head several times. Erik nodded and we continued down the passageway. We got to another place that had several passageways and I stopped.
"Which way do you think?" I asked Isaac. He pulled out his compass.
"That way. The center of the mountain is east so we want to go through that passage way." He said, pointing to the one on the right. I nodded and started leading them again. It was silent except for our footsteps and breathing and it was for this reason that I heard the small growl from one of the side passageways. I looked to my left and jumped back and pointed my gun at... a neko?!
"What the hell?" I asked. The thing in front of me was defiantly a neko and it was pointing a spear right at me, growling slightly. Suddenly there was another one right behind the first and he put his hand on his shoulder, making him lower the spear. He looked all of us over, seeing the shock on our faces and looking slightly amused.
"Jess?" he suddenly asked. We all gasped and I almost grabbed at him.
"Where is she?" I asked, slightly pissed off. The neko continued to look at us all amused before twitching with his tail as if beckoning us to follow him.
"Come." He said. I looked at the others, who were still looking after him in shock and decided we better follow. Me moving seemed to snap the others out of it and they followed behind me. The other neko waited for us to pass before taking up the rear. We walked for a minute before three other nekos joined us.
"What the hell is going on here?" Shelly suddenly asked, finally pulled out of her shock. One of the nekos turned to her and put his finger to his mouth, obviously trying to tell us to be quiet, which made me wonder why. Finally after walking for awhile we reached a cave that looked like it was filled with a jungle. We walked through it for a moment, all of us humans looking around in amazement before we started to here noise of a town or something. We came to a wall and followed it until we came to an opening and all of us humans' eyes got even wider and Shelly and Erik even gasped. We looked around at a village of nekos and basically stopped in our tracks.
"Natu!" a familiar voice suddenly said, forcing all of our attentions to it. The neko that had been leading us smiled and rushed over to the girl who said his name and hugged her close. She was wearing nothing but a loin cloth, had designs painted all over here, her hair was longer and was obviously pregnant but we all could recognize her.
"Jessica!" Keal suddenly screamed out before he rushed over to her and hugged her tightly. She looked at him in shock as tears ran down his cheeks but soon she was crying too.
"Oh my god. What happened to you? You're pregnant?" Shelly asked, going over to her as well.
"Um... yes." Jess said. "With... my second child." She added as she nodded to a little boy that was suddenly hugging her leg. He looked a lot like her except for the fact that he was a neko. He also had the same chocolate brown hair as the neko she had called Natu.
"Can someone please explain what the hell is going on?" I suddenly asked, unable to take it. She was pregnant with her second child! I couldn't believe this! I felt a bit of jealousy creep over me and was half tempted to give into it and deck this Natu guy in the face. But then I saw the way she looked at him, with utter love and devotion and saw him look the same way back at her and knew that there was no hope for me at all.
"Of course." Jess had said in response to my question. "Kael, Shelly, Charles, Isaac, Erik. This is my mate, Natu."
"Mate?" Kael asked, looking at her weirdly. Jess sighed and then looked at Natu, seeming to have a mental conversation with him. He nodded and picked up the little boy that had been attached to her leg.
"Come. Let me introduce you to the Queen and her mate. Then I will explain everything." She said before turning and leading the way through the village. Natu followed behind her and carried the boy as the rest of us followed them.
